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SabrinaTallman

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No idea what is going on. Both my black mollies have this going on. They were fine yesterday. No one is picking on them that I've seen. So just looking for help. I know it's not ich. Seen ich before and treated for it. Plus anyone think she's pregnant or fat. Unsure if she was in a tank with males, but probably. I can't really sex these guys that well.
 

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Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH.

Do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean. Then add some salt. If you only have mollies in the tank then add 2 heaped tablespoon of salt per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours add another 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks.

If you have tetras, cories, etc, then only add 1 heaped tablespoon of salt per 20 litres, and if no improvement after 48 hours add another heaped tablespoon so there is a total of 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

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The molly in the picture is a female black molly. Female livebearers (mollies, guppies, swordtails, platies) have a fan/ triangular shaped anal (bottom) fin. Male livebearers have a long thin straight anal fin that is called a gonopodium.

Female livebearers get a number of sperm packets from male livebearers when they breed. The female then uses these sperm packets to fertilise eggs when conditions are good. They can carry up to 6 sperm packets at a time so even if there hasn't been a male in the tank for a few months, the female can still get pregnant by using the sperm packets she has in her body.

If you buy a female livebearer from a pet shop, and it has been in a tank with a male, it will be pregnant and carrying sperm packets.
 
I have some mickey mouse platy, black tetra, a couple gourami, guppies, and some swordtails (including week old babies). I have had a slight problem with the Nitrite, nitrate and pH levels after adding some moss balls to my tank, they caused a huge spike in nitrite and nitrate levels, so I immediately removed them. I've done two 50% percent water changes a couple days apart. which it brought my levels down significantly. I also changed my filter which helped as well. And my tank is approximately a 20 gallon tank. My mother and I have kept tanks for years and have never added salt to an aquarium before or even heard about this. So I am a little on the fence about this. Any advice?
 
Mollies are harder water fish, and are also highly sensitive to ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Soft water, acidic water, or any level of ammonia or nitrite can cause skin issues like the photo. So can other things of course. Are they having any difficulty swimming, things like wobbly swimming or shimmying? And increased respiration? All of these symptoms can be related to water issues.

What is the GH (general or total hardness) of your source water (tap presumably)? And the pH? And test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate--what are the numbers? If ammonia or nitrite is above zero, that is trouble and more water changes are essential.

The salt was to help the mollies through this, but if we are dealing with soft water it won't do much long-term, so you/we need to know the afore-mentioned levels. The livebearers are OK with salt, but the tetras and gourami will not manage long-term or at high levels. Are any of the non-mollies showing signs of distress or anything?
 
Nope everyone seems fine, other than I did lose one sword tail. Just the skin issues. I dont have number on levels. I only have test strips. I normally dont test. My tank got real cloudy about 1.5 week back. So I bought the strips, since that's all I had easy. I also dont use my tap water, it's too high in chlorine and other stuff, since I have "city" water. I lost every fish I placed in it. I switched to bottled water and was fine till now. The nitrate levels are in the safe zone. Nitrite are stress zone and the total hardness is soft. My ph is neutral.
 
I have had a slight problem with the Nitrite, nitrate and pH levels after adding some moss balls to my tank, they caused a huge spike in nitrite and nitrate levels, so I immediately removed them. I've done two 50% percent water changes a couple days apart. which it brought my levels down significantly. I also changed my filter which helped as well... ...My mother and I have kept tanks for years and have never added salt to an aquarium before or even heard about this. So I am a little on the fence about this. Any advice?
What do you mean by, you changed the filter?
If you replace filter materials you remove the beneficial filter bacteria that keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0. Without these bacteria you get ammonia and nitrite building up in the water and that will stress or kill fish. If the pH of the water is above 7.0, then any ammonia in the water becomes much more toxic and is going to do more damage to the fish.

As a general rule you do not replace filter materials. Instead you squeeze them out in a bucket of aquarium water, and when clean squeeze them out in a second bucket of aquarium water and then put them back in the filter.
The filter case and associated parts can be cleaned under tap water but you do not want to replace filter materials. The only exception to this is carbon (black granulated substance) and ammonia absorbing granules (like cream coloured gravel). These items should not be used except in an emergency.

Carbon absorbs chemicals and heavy metals from the water.

Ammonia absorbing granules absorb ammonia until they are full and then you get ammonia building up in the water and the filters start to cycle. A filter cycle is where the filter develops colonies of beneficial bacteria that eats ammonia and converts it into nitrite, and more bacteria eat the nitrite and convert it into nitrate. Nitrates get removed when you do water changes. Plants will also use some.

The only things you really need in a power filter is sponges. You can use ceramic beads/ noodles too if you like but sponges trap gunk and hold filter bacteria and don't need to be replaced.

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If you have problems with tap water you could look at getting some tap water filters or a reverse osmosis unit to remove the chemicals and pollutants in the water. It might be cheaper than using bottled water.

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Byron mentioned general hardness (GH) and if you want to keep livebearers (mollies, swordtails, guppies & platies), you need a GH above 250ppm for mollies and above 200ppm for the others.

If your water is soft (GH below 100ppm) you will have nothing but problems with livebearers.

If you are not sure on exact numbers, take a glass full of tank water and a glass of the bottled water you use to the local pet shop and ask them to test the water for you. Write the results down when they do the test. They should give test results like: ammonia 0.25ppm, nitrite 1.0ppm, nitrate 25ppm, pH 7.6, general hardness 120ppm (or it might be in degrees, eg: 4 dgh), and if possible but not essential, carbonate hardness (KH).

Bottled water should be aerated for 30 minutes or so before using it in an aquarium to get the dissolved gases back to normal.

You could also look at getting some different test kits. Liquid test kits are generally more accurate than paper strips. If you get test kits, check the expiry date on them and when you get them home, keep them in a cool, dry, dark place. I kept mine in a plastic container on the bottom shelf in the fridge.

Make sure children and animals can't get to the test kits because the chemicals the use are pretty toxic.

Wash your hands and rinse the test phials out after using them.

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Salt is readily used in aquaculture to treat minor fungal, bacterial and protozoan infections in fish grown for human consumption. It reduces stress in fish (as long as it's not overdosed) and is a safer alternative to the chemicals sold in pet shops. Most of the chemicals used to treat aquarium fish are extremely hazardous and some like Malachite Green are carcinogenic. Fish that are farmed for human consumption must not be treated with any chemicals because the chemicals can remain in the fish and poison anything that eats the fish. So salt is used to treat fish instead of chemicals.

You can use any sort of non iodised salt including: rock salt, sea salt, swimming pool salt or aquarium salt. Aquarium salt is usually rock salt that has been repackaged.
 

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